Images in words and pictures, seasonal outpourings and rather ridiculous ruminations.

Monday, 14 January 2008

Why Not?

Doris sat on the wooden bench, shifted uncomfortably and tucked her shopping bags under her armpit.There was a young man approaching.He was wearing a hooded zipped sweater, baggy jeans and a woollen hat.She didn’t want to stare, to attract attention so she turned her left palm upwards and appeared as if she was examining her nails.Actually, she didn’t really have any nails because they had been worn away scrubbing the kitchen floor.She considered whether she’d want the young man to know that she had no nails; that should he attack her, she couldn’t scratch him.Then she realised how futile this thought was, that an individual capable of inflicting bodily harm on a mature lady such as herself would consider naillessness a barrier to attack.He may even consider that a lady with perfectly manicured talons to be the wearer of expensive rings or worse still, the owner of a whole stash of co-ordinating sets of jewelery to which he would march her, her arm behind her back or a knife in her ribs whilst he muttered obscenities through a stocking.And no one would know because the lady, a frequenter of the bridge club and music circle and who played golf on Wednesdays wouldn’t have told anyone that she was going to sit on a park bench.She would’ve told people that she was visiting her friend Valerie in hospital and they would have said “But Vanessa dear, you’ve never mentioned that you knew Valerie” and she’d blush and have to pretend that it was another Valerie altogether and hope that they didn’t see through her.

But now Doris could see that none of this could happen.Why not?Because she’d put on her glasses and realised that the young man was her grandson.

Jem - isn't it funny the way prompts work? I almost always never have a clue where I'm going with it when I start writing. I'm very intruiged to hear what might have happened after the phrase 'why not bite her?'!

MY DOG, MONTY, HAD HIS HIS OWN BLOG AND HAS OFTEN POSTED IN HIS OWN RIGHT. SADLY, HE DIED ON 31ST DECEMBER 2010. HAVING SAID THAT, I WOULDN'T BE SURPRISED IF HE CONTINUED TO BE AS OUTSPOKEN FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE. AFTER HE'S HAD A BIT OF A REST .....

In 2009, I gained an MA Creative Writing and Personal Development at the University of Sussex.

During November 2009, I was a NaNoWriMo participant and managed to write a 50,000 word novel in just one month. I'm fairly pleased with aspects of the result so after it's rested for a while, a bit like a joint having just come out of the oven, I'll carve it up and make it presentable for consumption by others. Eventually.

I'm currently working on a collection of poetry, entitled Ways of Leaving and a series of short stories, The Insiders.

About Me

I've had two short pieces published by Bluechrome in an anthology called Your Messages.
I have an MA in Creative Writing and Personal Development from University of Sussex and have studied for a basic counselling qualification.
When I'm not writing, I try to be a domestic goddess and steer our four children aged 21, 19, 8 and 6 in the right direction. I also cook the odd dinner.